


Collaboration at Mt. Nantai

by TheMysteriousGX



Series: Pearlina Week 2019 [1]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F, Pearlina week 2019, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 07:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19352533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMysteriousGX/pseuds/TheMysteriousGX
Summary: An Octarian engineer with a dream has a chance encounter with a temperamental Inkling musician who's faced a setback with hers.





	Collaboration at Mt. Nantai

"Oh  _Cod_ , I hate amateurs."

The diminutive inkling girl was crouched next to Marina's old keyboard, half a studio headset held limply in her hand. A pair of golden eyes moved to stare into Marina's teal eyes. The octoling meekly took a step back, one fist held to her chest.

The small pink girl snorted and let the headset fall to the ground before turning her back and walking a few steps away, hands behind her head.

Marina's heart sank. It wasn't supposed to go like this.  _What were you expecting? You might be a smart cog, but you're still just a cog in the machine..._

The Octoling awkwardly crossed an arm and knelt down to hurriedly pick up her gear. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_  "I-I'm s-s-sorry, I'll just..."

The inkling spun round, pointing accusingly "NO! Shut It!" She started stalking towards Marina, causing the taller girl to fall backwards.  _Inklings are irrational, inklings are violent, you should've listened_

"I've heard it all before. _I'm not really a musician, my gear's bad, my stuff isn't really that good"_ the inkling said mockingly, standing over the prone soldier. "I've been dropping tracks for 5  _years_ now, and  _that_..." she pointed to the discarded keyboard, "...is  _infuriating!"_

Marina fought back tears, nearly scared out of her mind.  _Eights was right, I shouldn't have disarmed. This was too dangerous. I'm out of range of a spawn point. All she has to do is Wail and I'm done!_ Marina shut her eyes.

A few seconds passed. Then a few more. Cautiously, she opened an eye and took a peek. The girl was squatting over her, almost sitting on the octoling's stomach. She had her face in her hands, elbows on her knees, a depressed and...soft...expression on her face, staring to the side at nothing. _  
_

"Marina, right?" the inkling said dejectedly, "sorry if I scared you, I just..." The girl pivoted on one leg, swinging around and exaggeratingly falling spread eagle on the mountainside grass, staring into the sky.

Marina stayed on her back, confused by the inkling's sudden change in demeanor. The blue sky was...more real than the screens underground. She hadn't noticed until now

A loud sniff interrupted the silent pause. Marina propped herself on her side. The inkling had one arm across her face.  _Was she...crying?_

"I...*sigh*...I'm sorry. I've been dropping tracks for 5 years and your low-fi demo on your broken keyboard has a better hook than all of my junk combined." The girl sat up, wiping her eyes, "My name's Pearl, you won't have heard of me. I come up here to Mount Nantai to be frustrated and..."

Pearl got to her feet and offered a hand to Marina, "...I'm sorry I took that out on you."

Marina hesitantly accepted the help up, "That's, ahh, that's okay"

"It's really not," Pearl said, awkwardly rubbing her neck, "but thanks for saying so. Let me help you out. My producer doesn't have anything to work with for me, but you're gonna go far. You got the rest of that tune mapped out?"

The pair walked back over to the keyboard and hunkered down. "I...don't know?"

"What do you mean, you don't know? You didn't just make 30 seconds of music, right?"

Marina rested her cheek in her palm, "Something's...missing. I can't figure out what."

The inkling pulled the audio jack out of Marina's broken headset and plugged it into a small angular device she had in her pocket. Marina craned her head to take a look. Icons flashed across the screen, and it seemed like Pearl could manipulate them with her fingers.  _How small is their technology?_ After a bit, the screen showed a 2 dimensional image of a sound mixer. The demo track rang out of the small devices apparently powerful speakers and Marina creeped closer to get a better view. Pearl dragged her finger across the screen, removing octoling's voice and cleaning up some of the audio.

"Alright Marina, we're just about set. I'll follow your lea..." Pearl's voice stopped abruptly. Marina had reached out and cupped the back of her hands, using one to hold Pearl's hand holding the phone, and the other using Pearl's fingers to manipulate the board. The inkling girl went from pink to red almost instantly. If Marina noticed, she didn't show it.

"Hey, uhh..." Pearl struggled to say, throat suddenly dry

"The fidelity isn't there for a proper set up, but it's remarkably compact" mumbled Marina, "wish the bass was better, but it way better than mine. Where did you get this?" the octoling asked, scant inches away from Pearl's face. Teal and golden eyes met. A teal blush started creeping up Marina's cheeks.

The moment stretched. "Aro..." Pearl turned her head and coughed "Arowana Mall."

Marina turned away and hurriedly buried her hands in her lap, "Right. Yes. Thanks you"

...

Pearl started snorting, trying and failing to hold in a laugh. Marina followed suit, and soon the clearing was filled with laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> Part of CJ_Walker's Pearlina week! Mt Nantai was the prompt.


End file.
